Free Motion Friday - Peacock Feather

The Peacock feather! It's a great shape, that provides awesome texture & somehow fits into pretty much every shape you can imagine.

I start at the bottom of the feather, and make a curvy spine headed upwards.

Then, I quilt a circle on the top of my spine. I want my circle to be a centred on my spine as possible--

I don't want a lopsided feather.

Once my circle is on, I backtrack down my spine.

Then, I make a gentle "S" curve out from the bottom.

And back into the middle.

Then, the same thing on the other side.

I work my way up the spine, alternating sides as I go -- I find that this creates a lot less backtracking on the spine. I started by doing all of one side, then all of the other side, but I found there was just SOOOOO much thread on the spine that it was almost distracting. By alternating sides, I've found it a lot easier to prevent this thread build up.

I continue up the spine until there is room for 2 or 3 more feathers before I would hit the circle.

I then change the shape and direction of my feathers, so they curve up around my circle.

And one more set, that follows the curve we just quilted, but then turns out at the top.

I know drawn out it doesn't look like much, but quilted out they look much better. Promise :D

That's it for me! Remember, if you'd like your quilt to be a part of FMF, email a picture of it to kathleen(at)kathleenquilts.com!